The other day at work someone asked me why I would want to run a half marathon. \u00a0It was funny being at the answering end of that question. \u00a0The fact is one year ago I had the same question. \u00a0Two years ago my question was more general…why would anyone want to run at all??<\/p>\n
If you are a runner you are bound to hear these questions frequently. \u00a0So I should have some perfect answer that would explain why I am willing to train my body to run 21.1k, right? \u00a0In fact, if it is something I am so passionate about, shouldn’t I have some kind of brilliant and thoughtful summation of running and the human spirit? \u00a0Shouldn’t I be able to come up with one of those quotes you could post on Facebook to motivate even the most sedentary person? \u00a0Instead all I could come up was this: at the end of it all I feel like superwoman, able to do anything. \u00a0Kind of lame, not particularly inspiring. \u00a0My colleague’s next question was a good one – is it worth all the work for a few moments of feeling like superwoman? \u00a0All I could say was yes, absolutely! \u00a0But why is it worth it? \u00a0Why do so many of us do this? \u00a0Why is it that almost every weekend in this city there are races packed with hundreds or even thousands of average people pushing their bodies for the sake of a medal, a bagel and a banana? \u00a0I don’t even like bananas! I can’t answer for the thousands of others, but here – in no particular order – are the reasons I run:<\/p>\n
– The obvious answer, to keep fit. \u00a0I am in better shape now than when I was in my thirties. \u00a0I am hoping to be in even better shape when I get to my late forties.<\/p>\n
– For “mental fitness”. \u00a0When else do you get time to think uninterrupted, or for that matter have time to think about absolutely nothing uninterrupted? \u00a0I work with kids and I have kids, I can’t even count the number of times I am interrupted in a day. \u00a0But not when I run. \u00a0Running is the ultimate “me time” while still accomplishing something.<\/p>\n
– To listen to music uninterrupted. \u00a0Once upon a time I spent a significant amount of time listening to music. \u00a0I even have vague memories of going to concerts on a regular basis. \u00a0Then we had kids. \u00a0It is now pretty much impossible to listen to a favourite song all the way through without being asked a question or having to calmly and wisely solve a sibling conflict. \u00a0O.K, the reality is I can’t hear the song over my yelling at the kids to solve the problem quickly or they will be in trouble. \u00a0But when I run I stick in my ear buds and enjoy my music. \u00a0Sometimes you will even catch me running and singing out loud. \u00a0Not such a bad thing when I am running in my rural area. \u00a0The cows and wild turkeys seem willing to tolerate my singing. \u00a0I have, however, caught myself running and singing out loud in suburbia. \u00a0It was the time that I was singing Ed Sheeran’s “I’ll Be Drunk Again” out loud that I realized I should be a little more careful!<\/p>\n
– To set an example for my kids. \u00a0Right now they think it is normal for mummy to go out for a run. \u00a0If it is normal for mummy, maybe running – or another physical activity – will become normal for them. \u00a0Both my boys already run in kids’ races and my 10 year old is looking forward to doing the 5k with me at Ottawa Race Weekend. \u00a0They have both already experienced the feeling of doing their personal best and the fun atmosphere of races. \u00a0I hope these memories will stick with them.<\/p>\n
– To get away from my kids. \u00a0Sorry but somebody has to say it. \u00a0If you look at any races, there are a large number of women participating, in fact the women often out number the men. \u00a0I have no scientific proof, but it seems to me that once women have done the pregnancy thing, the nursing thing, the diapers and sleepless nights, the toddler music and gymnastic classes (need I go on?), they are ready for something that does not involve their children. \u00a0Something that can be done quickly and without a huge investment. \u00a0Of course nobody warns them (or nobody warned me anyways) that once you reach one goal, say a 5k race, you will be addicted and the only thing to do is to keep readjusting your goals. \u00a0Suddenly your long runs require more than 30 minutes. \u00a0You find yourself saying crazy things like, “I won’t be long, should be back in about 2 hours.” \u00a0You will go shopping for clothes for work and instead come home with piles of black spandex pants and neon shirts with reflective stripes. \u00a0You will know you have really gone over the edge when you want to start wearing these clothes at work. \u00a0But I digress…<\/p>\n
– To prove I can do something I thought I couldn’t. \u00a0I am not a natural athlete. \u00a0Running requires work on my part, and regular work at that. \u00a0But I have proven to myself over the last two years that I can set goals and reach them if I am willing to make the effort.<\/p>\n
– Finally, I love the simplicity of running. \u00a0Really, it all comes down to walking out the door and putting one foot in front of the other. \u00a0I know, there is more to it…the hills, the speed intervals, the long slow runs, the short tempo runs. \u00a0But ultimately, you put one foot in front of the other, week after week, and you end up accomplishing amazing things!<\/p>\n
So, why wouldn’t I run???<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The other day at work someone asked me why I would want to run a half marathon. \u00a0It was funny being at the answering end of that question. \u00a0The fact is one year ago I had the same question. \u00a0Two years ago my question was more general…why would anyone want to run at all?? If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3amQ2-2u","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}